IKEA prepares for thousands of layoffs as part of “transformation”

IKEA Group, the owner of most IKEA furniture stores around the world, revealed plans to dismiss 7 thousand 500 employees – most of them administrative staff in central support functions – in the next two years.

According to Reuters, IKEA is planning to create 11,500 new jobs with new store formats, as they expand online and invest in digital matters, while they dismiss their employees. The dismissals are part of a plan to transform their digital platform and transportation methods to adapt to changes in the fast-changing retail and consumer landscape. The expected layoffs account for about five percent of the company's current workforce.

IKEA Group’s CEO Jesper Brodin, in his statement to Reuters, said that “We need to simplify the way we are organized. Over the last years ... we have invested our resources in many different ways. And, to be honest, we see now that several parts of our organization have a bit of duplicate work,”

They have also stated that the dismissals will start within two years and that the layoffs do not include branch operations in Turkey.